Quick fix for GPS issues on your new Samsung Galaxy S series phone

If you just got your hands on a new Samsung Galaxy S Vibrant or Captivate, you may have noticed some GPS issues. Samsung reportedly has as well, and may address this in a coming OTA fix. In the meantime, it's not hard to fix the problem yourself -- provided you go slow and follow the instructions, which are detailed after the break. [Xda-Developers via Intomobile]

This should make locating and locking on to GPS satellites faster, and make locations services more accurate. Just take your time, and follow the directions closely. And no, this won't affect your warranty or need root.

Update: with these settings I got lock time down to about 2 - 5 minutes.
Before it would not even lock after 30 minutes.
I also made another change not listed.
Under SUPL/CP Settings:
I turn Supl Secure Socket: Off (it was set to ON by default).
Now I'm getting lock within 10 sec.

Work great on the Captivate.
First time I try it did not work.
Found that if you use "task killer" to kill MAP application
the setting revert back to the original SERVER and PORT.
Once I set the task killer to ignore MAP it's fine.

My Captivate will also not allow me to enter the *#*#1472365#*#* as soon as I get to the last "#" (one character from the end) it clears the scrren...still hoping for some additional help with this issue. Thanks!

I have had my Captivate for two weeks now and am disappointed in the GPS performance. I downloaded the software update with no improvement in the performance. I am now attempting the manual fix but the phone dialer screen will not allow all the digits (*#*#1472365#*#*) to be inputted. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.

I have had my Captivate for just a few days now. I tried this fix and it seemed to work a little. Then I downloaded the recient samsung software update thats suppose to fix the gps and it didn't really help. I changed the settings back to default and still my phone was taking a long time get a lock. I changed the "Accuracy" under "Application Settings" from 50 to 60 and now my captivate gets a lock right away. I'm not sure but I'm guessing this setting is the min accuracy setting in feet before getting a lock. By giving it a little more room to wiggle it locks faster and then the accuracy just goes up from there fast. Maybe I'm wrong.... I'm no pro, but it worked for me like a charm as far as making it lock alot faster. Let me know if this works for you too after the samsung update and using google and default settings.

Can anyone tell me what the different modes for the GPS actually mean?

"“Operation Mode” to “MS Based." [from Standalone]

Sounds like the GPS was operating independently and is now being changed to something that requires use of the cellular system to "improve" it. That may mean you will not be able to use your GPS without cellular service.

SERVER: www.spirent-lcs.com Apparently is owned by a domain name parking service now, while the new entry is Google's "supplementary" GPS server, meaning it is doing part of the work at calculating your position.

This is a kludge, a workaround, but it does NOT FIX the lack of sensitivity in the GPS itself. I thought I saw mention that the Samsung chipset is a variation on the SIRFStarIII chip and if that is so, there's something very wrong, because a SIRFStarIII can run rings around a GalaxyS GPS.

I made the modification, but it didn't seem to help at all. The first attempt to get a fix after the change, took between 5 and 6 minutes by the clock. Thinking that perhaps removing the battery would be better than simply re-starting the phone, I did that. The attempt to fix after that (just minutes after the 5-6 minute fix)took approximately 3 minutes.

I'll watch this closely over the next couple of days. If I don't see significant improvement is there any reason why I would want to change back, or any reason to leave the changed settings?

Edit: Tried again a few hours ago with my wife's Vibrant along side mine. Hers took 3 minutes to fix and mine took 6, or more. Any news on Samsung's "fix?"

I did this and it help with the speed of connecting, but when i am uses the gps test on my vibrant it only uses one satilite. It is the same one everytime. i can see 11 of them and at least 6 are getting great signal strengh, yet my device always chooses the same one with horrible signal strengh. Why and how can i fix this? It seem to do the same thing when i am uses my golf software.

The fix did not work on my Captivate. This is the second problem I have had. AT&T replaced my first Captivate because it had too low call volume and people that I called heard a strange whopping-static sound. AT&T explained that some of the units have serial numbers that are not recognized by the network. This causes both the volume and the reception problems that I had. My new unit is fine for volume and reception but GPS does not work. I'm going to take it back to the store. For me, navigation is a main reason to get a smart phone, together with email and web.

Sadly, I may give up on smart phones all together. I had an iPhone 4 that was brazenly ripped out of my hands by a robber on the metro. Now I feel shy about using a smart phone on the metro, but that also removes a main reason for having it. Apple does not insure the new iPhones for theft and AT&T claims to be unable to insure that stolen phones can't be reused on their network. This is despite that they are the only iPhone network in the US.

I got my Samsung Galaxy S phone (AT&T Captivate) 2 days ago had this problem. The problem seem to be in how AT&T programmed some settings in the phone, not the phone itself. I got the problem fixed by doing the following.

Step 1. Go to 'Settings', choose 'Location & Security', uncheck "Use Wireless Networks".
Step 2. Open the dialer (the green phone button) and enter the following: *#*#1472365#*#* . Doing this will get you to a menu which allows you to change the default GPS setting programmed by AT&T.
Step 3 In the LbsTestMode menue, go to 'SUPL/CP Settings' and change the 'SUPL Secure Socket' to OFF. (This alone seem to improve the speed of GPS locking.)
Step 4 In the LBSTestMode menu, find SUPL/CP Settings and change the SERVER & PORT to supl.google.com and port 7276 (DO NOT use www. in front of supl.google.com) => I'm not sure if this really did anything. This was commonly suggested by other people who claimed that this fixed the problem. It looks like the original default setting which uses SERVER 'www.spirent-lcs.com' and PORT '7275' seem to work fine or choosing the 'Server FQDN Type' to Auto Config seem to work also. I personally believe that all three works fine. You can try to play with this setting.
Step 5 In the LBSTestMode menu, find 'Application Settings' and Change the Operation Mode to MS Based. This allows the phone to use combination of GPS signal and location data from network instead of GPS only. This should help to speed up locking.
Step 6. Turn off the phone and reboot the phone.
Step 7 Go to settings > Location & Security. Re Check the box next to "Use Wireless Networks"

With all of the above, my phone sees more satellites, locks quickly, and looks very accurate. Google MAP, Google Earth, and Google Navigation all worked fine even when I was driving in my car.

I tried this update, and my GPS wouldn't stop running. I tried to kill all apps that were using it, but the GPS was still functioning in the task bar at the top. Not sure if it was "updating" in some way, but I reverted back to the old settings, and it stopped. Hmm.... some advice?????
Also, it seems like the GPS settings didn't make a difference to me, it still located me about a mile off, just in the opposite direction.. LOL.. So now I'm south of my actual location with the update, as opposed to north before I updated...

I have AT&T as well, but as soon asn I enter the code in it deletes it and doesn't go to a new menu. Could you let me know if there were any additional steps that are needed, like finding the menu? Or did it connect you directly?

guys, good news. Samsung has finally acknowledged the gps problem in writing, which should lead to a permanent fix. I went back and forth until i got elevated to level three customer support and got this email from them (OK, not a full mea culpa, but it will do):
" Regarding your concern on the GPS capabilities of your phone, Samsung Mobile is aware that under certain conditions, the GPS on our U.S. Galaxy S devices may not be meeting performance expectations. We are diligently evaluating the situation and will provide an update as soon as possible."

A second good experience for the method on the Samsung Captivate: Nothing worked for me as well as leaving the SUPL settings as set initially (www.spirent-lcs.com, port 7275), but changing Application Settings -> Operation Mode to "MS Assisted".

I"m not sure this fixes the real problem. The GPS antenna on the Gaxaxy S seems to suck compared to the EVO. I have both on my desk running GPS Test and the evo locks on to 6-8 satellites very fast and the Vibrant takes forever to get 2 (10 + minutes)and never gets a position fix. I really like the phone but the GPS, WiFi, phone and 3g reception seem to be pretty bad. Anyone know if this is a software issue or if it is the hardware?

Excellent, thanks. I was back at the T-Mo store yesterday griping about how slow GPS acquisition is on this device. Much better now (from snail speed to cheetah!!) I couldn't get My Tracks app to work before and works fine now.

When it comes to tracking of any kind "heading" refers to the direction that you are moving in, not the direction you happen to be facing at the time. No movement = arbitrary heading and isn't the phones fault. Now if you were driving down the street and there was still a large discrepancy in the headings between the two phones you'd have a legitimate issue.

You guys here at AC are just the best at keeping us informed on how to keep our sweet little android phones working to the best of their ability. Thanks guys. Oh and no I don't have a galaxy s I just appreciate all the hard work you guys do to keep us informed.